EARTH DAY GALA

Tuesday night, April 22nd, the USGBC MA hosted the 2014 Earth Day Gala & Green Building Awards at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Thank you again to Paul Gusmini of the Fed for contributing the venue. It was a great night had by all.

Congratulations to the winners of the Green Building Awards:

• Green Building of the Year: One Beacon Street by CBRE-NE 
• Green Innovation: Waltham Watch Factory rainwater management by Richard Burck Associates 

The team at CBRE-NE won Green Building of the Year (affectionately known as GBOTY) for their project at One Beacon Street in Boston. The judges thought this was a great example of something we should see more of. They thought it was commendable to set out to do LEED for Existing Buildings on a 1970s building and achieve LEED Platinum. They were impressed with the LEED recertification in 2013.

Philip Laird of ARC / Architectural Resources Cambridge was on hand to receive their Special Recognition for the Colby College Cogeneration Plant project - which they originally entered as a GBOTY project - but which really was impressive as a Green Innovation. The judges were very impressed with the project’s innovative use of biomass as an efficient fuel source. Colby College is the fourth college nationwide to achieve carbon neutrality, and the biomass plant is helping to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 70%. Nice!

Here's presenter Tracey Beckstrom with Green Innovation Special Recognition award winners from BH+A, Ben Wilson and Adrienne Cali, for their entry: Factory 63 in Boston. The judges were very impressed with the level of energy performance in an historic building. They appreciated the densities the project achieved and how the smaller-sized “Innovation units”, which traded personal space for shared occupant spaces, helped to control energy use.  

Tim Mackey from Richard Burck Associates picked up their award for Green Innovation. Their project was to manage rainwater at the Waltham Watch Factory. They have taken something as prosaic as roof drainage and reintegrated it into the site in a manner that is absolutely prevalent. The design is a perfect combination of innovation and experience.

Congratulations again to all the winners - nice work! And to the many good folks who entered their projects into the 2014 Green Building Awards Contest. Thank you for your work to advance the mission of green buildings for all within a generation. 

The evening was a great gathering of green building professionals and their guests, who no doubt are at least green building aficionados. We had a great cocktail reception on the roof deck of the Federal Reserve, and then went in for dinner and speeches. We had posters of the many entries to the Green Building Awards in a gallery sponsored by RS Means / Reed Construction Data. 

The weather was just perfect - 68F and a light breeze. It was just fun to be up on that roof deck with the great views of the Fort Point Channel.

A lot of wonderful people came out - many familiar faces and it was great to reconnect with so many. Below, on the right, we have Mark Stafford, representing the event's Platinum Sponsor, National Grid.

Thank you to John Picard (not pictured) for taking all these photos of the friendly attendees!

Then, inside, we had a great dinner.

No one minds a major-funder group selfie, right?

But let's recall why we were here for a moment - the Green Building Awards. Really good stuff all around!

 Nice work, Gold Event Sponsors, AHA Consulting Engineers!

And at the end of the evening, there were still a few Chapter stalwarts hanging out - just couldn't say goodnight. Thanks for always being ready to support this community. You guys rock!

The Late Show with John, Mark, Phoebe, Caitriona, Jim, Emily, Jenn and Suzanne!

Special Thanks to the many Event Sponsors of the 2014 USGBC MA Earth Day Gala: National Grid, Boston Properties, AHA Consulting Engineers, NStar, Structure Tone, SMMA, Columbia Construction, A Better City, DTZ, Chapman Construction, Robinson & Cole, Suffolk Construction, Entegra, WB Engineers, IRONWOOD Design, The Green Engineer, RS Means, as well as media sponsor NEREJ and venue sponsor The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston